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Former Queensland Governor sells GC home

DESPITE the rain, it took just 15 minutes and 30 bids for former Queensland Governor Leneen Forde to sell her Gold Coast home of 25 years today for $3.1 million at a packed onsite auction.

Ray White Mermaid Beach elite agent Troy Dowker ran a textbook auction campaign over six weeks which saw 14 registered bidders turn up to buy the four bedroom home. Interest came from all over the Gold Coast, Brisbane and northern New South Wales.

The beachfront home at 248 Pacific Pde, Bilinga, with slate tiles and wood panelling throughout, has a sweeping coastal view to Currumbin Alley Rock, and further up to Surfers Paradise.

“This has been our home since the 1990s but I am getting older and the time has come to sell,” said Ms Forde after the auction.

“It was good to declutter as there’s so much after 25 years of living here,” she said.

“It’s always been a happy home but I have a home in Brisbane to go to. Most of my friends and all of my family are in Brisbane anyway so the time is right,” she said.

“I am really happy for the buyer. I really wanted them to get it as I know they will take good care of this house. It could have been pulled down by a developer but the new buyer will move in and love it for the next 25 years.

“Bilinga is a great suburb as there’s no highrises here and it’s a very safe beach. The water has never been a problem with rips.”

Ms Forde was the Governor of Queensland for five years until 1997. She later chaired the Commission of Inquiry into Abuse of Children in Queensland Institutions during 1998 and 1999 that found systemic child abuse in government or non-government institutions between 1911 and 1999.

In front of 200 onlookers, Member for Currumbin Jann Stuckey was the successful bidder at the packed onsite public auction with people spilling outside onto the road.